This invention generally relates to competitive tossing games, and more particularly to a target as may be used in competitive bean bag tossing games.
Bean bag tossing games have been in existence for many years, the general object of the game being to pitch or toss a small fabric bean-filled bag at a target positioned at some distance away from the person tossing the bag. The bean bag is conventionally pitched or tossed in an underhand throwing manner such as to direct it through a hole of somewhat similar dimensions in the surface of the target. Various configurations of the game are known in the prior art and exemplary of these are target devices shown and described in patents to Haney, US-3,837,650 and Johnson, US-4,726,591. These prior art devices provide a bean bag target having a hole through its striking surface and the simple object is to get the bean bag through the hole in order to score in the game. In these type target devices competitive scoring will occur only when a bean bag is perfectly tossed such as to go through the hole in the target surface.
It is therefore in accordance with one aspect of the present invention an object to provide a bean bag toss game target of such structure and orientation to the participants that various scoring methods may be employed in the game.
It is in accordance with another aspect of the invention an object to provide a bean bag toss game target in which the relative dimensions of the target striking surface area and the target hole create a competitive game similar to horseshoes and/or lawn dart tossing games wherein it is not necessary that the item thrown, in this case a bean bag, actually ring the target stake, stick within the circled area, or go through the target hole.
It is in accordance with another aspect of the invention an object to provide a target constructed of materials which will give the target striking surface a measure of flexibility such that a bean bag contacting the surface may be either bounced or slid, depending upon the angle at which it is tossed and ultimately strikes the surface.
According to still another aspect of the invention it is an object to provide a target for bean bag tossing games wherein the material comprising the target surface is not only somewhat flexible but also exhibits a texture such that a bean bag striking the surface may either slide easily off of the surface or stay relatively securely on the surface depending upon the angle at which it hits the surface.
It is in accordance with another aspect of the invention an object to provide a target of the type alluded to which is easily folded into itself for storage wherein all of the structural components comprising the target combine to form a single compact unit.